New nationality law to put to test rights and freedom of many Asians settled in Britain

Indian family arrives at Heathrow Airport: Joining the unwanted category

When the first South Asian immigrants converged on Britain in the early '50s, it was to them a land of opportunity and wealth. Their children could be better educated and could hope to find jobs their parents only dreamt of. Above all, the freedom of the individual was an essential part of the democratic system of their chosen land of abode.

This dream, 30 years later, seems to be turning into a nightmare. There is still plenty of wealth around, but 'opportunity' and 'rights' are now relative terms. The rights and freedom of movement of many Asians settled in Britain are seriously being put to the test in a new nationality law which is expected to come up before the British Parliament later this year.

The new law, which seeks to plug loopholes in Britain's existing Immigration Act, is a complex bit of legalism. In essence it divides British citizens into three categories, each with varying rights to live and work in Britain. The law, when it is passed, will affect South Asians domiciled hire in different ways. Indian nationals in Britain will not immediately be concerned. Provided they have "indefinite stay" permits, their freedom to live and work in Britain will continue.

But the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (Jcwi), an independent body, advises Indian nationals working in Britain that if they intend to take up British citizenship, it would be better to do so now than after the law comes into force.

Re-defined Rights: Indian nationals domiciled in Britain currently have the right to vote, take government jobs and do jury service - the rights of ordinary citizens. But the White Paper on the Nationality Act says "these entitlements may be re-defined in the future." More to the point, under the present regulations, Indian nationals permanently settled in Britain have an absolute right to register as British citizens and thereby earn the right, for example, to work in any country of the European Economic Community. Once the new law is passed, that right will lapse in two years.

The group of people in India who will be most affected by the Nationality Act are those who fall into the category of British Overseas Citizens such as East African Indians holding British passports. The new law will deny them right of entry. Nor will such people be allowed to pass on their citizenship to their children who, paradoxically, will be born stateless unless their country of residence grants them citizenship.

Ian Martin of Jcwi says that there are some 20, 000 such people waiting in India and Pakistan. Most of them will probably wait in vain, for though 5,000 of them are allowed into Britain each year under the existing laws, far fewer actually make it. In '78, only 1,752 entry vouchers were issued.

Fearing Discrimination: The draft law has added to the nagging fear among Asians in Britain that somewhere along the years they have fallen into the unwanted category of 'second class' citizens. More and more Asians are prone to use the term "discrimination" : doctors, teachers, factory workers and manual labourers all believe that "racial discrimination" is the main reason for their failure to achieve higher posts or better grades, or even to get any employment at all.

And what irks a growing number of Asians in Britain, especially those belonging to the younger generation, is the failure of Asian immigrant organisations to tackle their problems. Though Asian communities began to organise themselves in the early '50s and there are today some 1,000 listed organisations, most have been dominated by first generation settlers who preferred to keep their heads low and ignore questions of discrimination, rights and attitudes. They were also satisfied with token resistance to British legislation affecting their interests.

A turning point came in 1973 when the Immigration Act of 1971 came into force. The act divided Asians and others into those who had a parent or grandparent born in Britain and those who didn't. Since it was the first attempt to categorise Asians settled in Britain, it led to a "sudden emergence of consciousness," says Sibghat Kadri, a Pakistani barrister with extensive experience of immigration cases. Asians were suddenly aware that their rights as settlers were slowly being whittled away.

No Unity: Kadri is scathing -in his criticism of Asian organisations: "The older generation of Asians have been too busy fighting in their mosques and temples to press for changes. They didn't object to their rights being taken away. But a new generation has come up who will have to face the consequences of our cowardice." Kadri himself first came face to face with discrimination when he wanted to join an established chamber to practise in.

Shreela Flather, a teacher and community worker who has recently been appointed as a commissioner on the Commission for Racial Equality has yet another criticism to make. Says she: "Foolishly, there are too many Asians competing against each other in the same area. We can't even get together for one particular issue."

The problem with Asian organisations in Britain is two-fold. First: they are too often affiliated to political bodies in India or Pakistan. The Indian Workers Association (IWA) is one of the earliest formed political parties and one of the biggest Asian organisations with more than 30,000 members split into two organisations in 1964, with one wing affiliated to the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

In 1968, the latter party again split along the same lines as the home party Naxalites and CPI-M. There is a Supreme Council of Sikhs, a Jammu and Kashmir Liberation League and a Pakistan People's Party among hundreds of other groupings. Almost all hark back to the politics of their own countries. Asian politicians are invited to speak at conventions and meetings and high commissioners grace many such occasions. Local issues touching both black and white people are totally ignored in their single minded pursuit of 'home' politics.

Class Division: The second problem is one of a class division. Many people accuse the so-called leaders and spokespeople of the bigger organisations of being totally 'out of touch with the working classes'. Dr Bhiku Parekh, a lecturer at the University of Hull, who has emerged as a theoretician of the problems of the Asian community, describes Asian leaders as falling into two broad groups.

There are those thrown up at the grass roots level, often industrial workers themselves; and the educated, middle class spokesmen who have no base but spring into the public eye in times of crisis (like Praful Patel who overnight became the spokesman for the East African Asians). The problem with these two types of leaders is that there is no common ground between them and therefore no power base from which to operate. As Flather says: "If we were united we could manipulate the power base, we could create and push for our needs. But we are so very, very divided."

But there is, in turn, criticism for the Shreela Flathers and Piare Singh Khabras who with many other prominent Asians are local government councillors and justices of the peace and therefore members of the Establishment. Says Sunil Sinha, a Southall student: "Whenever a genuine leader emerges, he gets sucked into the system and then is lost to us."

Solutions: The younger generation of Asians are doing things in a different way. They are more militant. "We will fight for our rights," says one young member of the Asian Youth Movement. Amrit Wilson, feminist and member of an Asian and African women's group, explains how they do it: "We demonstrate, we organise sit-ins, we threaten to occupy government offices. We believe the community should look after its own and to that aim we raise the consciousness of our people to strengthen the community so that we can fight back if needed."

But the established Asian organisations still think that the best way to fight for a decent survival in Britain is through the trade unions and political parties. Harvinder Singh Dhesi, a chemistry teacher and president of the IWA (CPI-M) says: "We need the unions, nothing can be done unless the workers can join into change attitudes. But ultimately only the Government has the answer to our problem. Because they have the responsibility to alleviate the conditions that lead to racial unrest."

Immigration

Nationality Law

Immigration counter at the British High Commission: Plugging loopholes

The British Government has proposed a new law defining British
nationality which will be presented before Parliament sometime this
year. If the British Nationality Law is passed then it will create a
three tier system of British citizens. The ground covered by the
proposed Nationality Law is as follows: Three types of citizenship are
proposed: a) British citizen with full right of residence in the UK.

b) British Overseas citizens which group will include those presently citizens of UK and the Colonies.

c) British Dependent Territory citizenship for those who are residents of British Dependent Territories such as Hong Kong.

British citizenship will be acquired when the legislation comes into effect by the following:

a) Those who have the right of abode in the UK through birth, adoption, naturalisation.

b) Who have been married to a man who becomes a British citizen. c) Those
who have a parent or a grandparent born, naturalised, or adopted in the
UK.

d) Overseas citizens who have acquired the right of residence through being lawfully settled in the UK.

Children born to parents neither of whom is a British citizen and who are
temporarily living in the UK will not acquire British citizenship solely by virtue of their birth in the UK.

A child adopted by parents who are

British citizens will not be automatically entitled to British citizenship.

British citizenship will descend only to the first generation of children born
abroad to British citizens who themselves were born in the UK.

British citizenship will be granted to an alien on the grounds if:

a) he has been living in the UK for five years prior to application.

b) as a Commonwealth citizen was settled in the UK before the Immigration
Act came into force in 1973 and was ordinarily resident in the UK since
that date, and

c) periods spent in the UK illegally i.e. in breach of
the Immigration Law, will not count as residence.

d) the language
requirement will remain; there will be no right of appeal against the
refusal of citizenship.

e) the means of acquiring British citizenship
will be the same for both sexes, that is, a spouse should first be
accepted settlement in the UK and that he/she will be able to apply for
citizenship after three years.

f) dual citizenship will continue to be allowed.

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